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A senior Bahamian attorney has lost his final bid to reverse a disbarment order after the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas recently upheld a disciplinary ruling that removed him from the national roll of legal practitioners over the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars in client funds.

The case dates back to a property purchase transaction, when Craig Butler, a senior member of the Bahamas Bar, was entrusted with $862,287.43 on behalf of local food enterprise AML Foods Limited. When the misappropriation came to light, AML Foods pursued both civil and disciplinary action, securing a civil judgment against Butler for the full sum that remains unsatisfied to this day, more than eight years after the funds were first misappropriated.

In July 2024, the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Bahamas Bar Council heard the disciplinary complaint against Butler, who formally admitted to the misconduct before the body but contested the severity of the proposed punishment. After deliberation, the tribunal ordered Butler’s disbarment, weighing multiple key factors including the gravity of his violation of professional standards, the critical need to safeguard client assets, the requirement for a strong deterrent to prevent similar misconduct across the legal profession, and the significant harm caused to AML Foods and its stakeholders.

In its original ruling, the tribunal emphasized that the core of the attorney-client relationship is built on unwavering trust, especially when handling client finances. “It is understood that the client’s monies are sacrosanct and should not be used by the Attorney for any purpose other than what they were provided for,” the ruling stated, adding that no personal hardship, regardless of how urgent, justifies a legal practitioner diverting client funds for their own use. The tribunal also noted that Butler’s senior standing at the bar made his violation even more unacceptable, and that a severe penalty was necessary to send a clear warning to other legal professionals.

Butler launched an appeal against the disbarment order, arguing among other claims that the penalty was excessively harsh. He contended that no finding of dishonesty had been recorded against him, and that the tribunal failed to properly account for mitigating factors including his reported health issues, strained financial position, and stated efforts to repay the misappropriated sum. He also claimed the tribunal had acted inconsistently compared to other disciplinary cases against attorneys, and raised procedural complaints over the handling of his case. Representing himself during the appeal, Butler also sought to introduce new evidence including property valuation documents and additional medical records to support his claims.

However, the Court of Appeal rejected every one of Butler’s arguments, finding no legal basis to overturn the tribunal’s original ruling. The court clarified that disbarment is not restricted exclusively to cases proven to involve dishonesty, referencing past precedent that supports removing practitioners whose conduct falls far short of the integrity and trustworthiness required by the legal profession. Justices also confirmed that the tribunal did properly consider all mitigating factors Butler cited, noting that the complete lack of restitution to AML Foods over more than eight years heavily weighed against a more lenient penalty. The court added that Butler’s claims of health issues were only briefly mentioned before the tribunal and supported by no concrete evidence.

The appellate court refused to admit Butler’s new evidence, ruling that almost all of the material could and should have been presented to the original tribunal during the disciplinary hearing. The court also addressed repeated delays that plagued the appeal process, caused by procedural errors on Butler’s part tied to the filing of appeal records and legal submissions, noting that he had already been granted multiple extensions and opportunities to correct these issues. Justices dismissed Butler’s claims of inconsistent treatment compared to other disciplinary cases, finding that the examples he provided were either unverifiable or involved materially different facts. All additional claims of procedural unfairness and allegations against the Bar Council’s legal representative were dismissed as “wholly unmeritorious”.

In its final ruling, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the disciplinary tribunal acted fairly throughout the process and correctly exercised its statutory authority under the Bahamas’ Legal Profession Act. Butler has been ordered to pay the full legal costs of the appeal process.

As the Davis administration of the Bahamas prepares to publicly introduce its 2026/2027 national budget on Thursday, two senior cabinet ministers have confirmed that targeted investments in national infrastructure and public healthcare will continue to top the government’s priority agenda.

Works and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting and Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Michael Darville shared details of their respective ministries’ budget plans with reporters on Wednesday, ahead of the first Cabinet meeting convened for the administration’s new term. The gathering brought together both long-serving incumbent ministers and newly appointed officials, many of whom voiced cautious optimism for the policy agenda ahead.

In his remarks to press, Minister Sweeting confirmed that ongoing core projects to upgrade transportation infrastructure and flood drainage systems across the Bahamas will continue to receive budget allocation, with development in the outlying Family Islands remaining a central focus. This focus responds to years of public complaints about deteriorating road conditions across the country, where motorists have repeatedly reported vehicle damage caused by widespread potholes.

One key upcoming project is the Pinewood road remediation and drainage initiative, for which Sweeting confirmed all mobilization costs have already been settled, with construction set to kick off within the coming weeks. In a new policy development, Sweeting also announced that his ministry will integrate artificial intelligence into its internal operations, specifically noting that AI tools will be used to streamline and speed up building plan approval processes that have historically faced long delays. On the administration’s ongoing shantytown clearance campaign, Sweeting reported that more than 700 unregulated structures have been demolished across the country over the past two years. The Shanty Town Task Force will continue its work in partnership with the Department of Immigration, the Department of Social Services, and the Royal Bahamas Police Force, he added.

Alongside infrastructure, public healthcare will hold a central place in the new budget, a long-stated commitment of the Davis administration that first made strengthening the country’s struggling health sector a core campaign promise when it took office. That agenda has faced significant setbacks in previous years, however, marked by worsening conditions at public hospitals and repeated project delays.

Dr. Darville told reporters Wednesday that the government’s core goal for the health sector remains unchanged: expanding the healthcare workforce to ensure enough trained staff are available to deliver consistent, quality care to patients across the country. He also confirmed that major capital repairs are set to begin imminently at Nassau’s Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), the country’s flagship public health facility that critics say is currently in the worst condition it has seen in decades.

The facility has drawn widespread public criticism in recent months: frontline healthcare workers have repeatedly reported working with severe shortages of essential medical supplies, while patients regularly complain of waiting multiple hours for basic care. Earlier this month, photos circulating on social media purporting to show unsanitary, overcrowded conditions in PMH’s male medical ward sparked widespread public outcry over the facility’s decline. Dr. Darville noted that he had directly addressed the issue with leadership from the Public Hospitals Authority, and the specific concerns raised in the photos have now been resolved. He added that ongoing challenges are inevitable for an ageing facility like PMH, which has served the Bahamian public for decades.

To fund the upcoming upgrades, the government has secured a $75 million loan earmarked for improvements to public health infrastructure across the country, with a large portion allocated to PMH renovations. The project will include the full demolition and reconstruction of the hospital’s main kitchen facility, alongside targeted renovations to the Legacy Unit, the eye surgery theatre, and multiple other clinical and support areas.

When asked whether the Ministry of Health would request a substantial budget increase to fund its large pipeline of projects, Dr. Darville said officials do not expect a major boost in allocation, as the government prioritizes fiscal sustainability alongside service improvements. The administration is currently in the process of restructuring the national National Health Insurance (NHI) program, he explained, with a focus on developing a more stable economic model that ensures healthcare providers and attending physicians are paid on time, a longstanding grievance from the country’s medical community. He added that the government is also exploring the addition of a catastrophic care insurance benefit, with officials working to build a sustainable funding model that will allow the new benefit to launch without straining public finances.

Bahamian corporate registry documents have uncovered a direct corporate connection between the contractor tapped for the government’s high-profile Carmichael Village affordable housing project and a company tied to the accused drug trafficker at the center of a May 2024 election-day plane crash, Tribune Business can confirm.

Filings held by the Registrar General’s Companies Registry show that 4,999 of the 5,000 issued shares in Complete Construction, the named developer for Carmichael Village, are controlled by Top Notch Builders, an Adelaide Road-based construction firm that listed Jonathan Eric Gardiner as president and director in its 2017 corporate documents. The records also reveal that nearly all officers and directors of Complete Construction hold identical leadership roles at Top Notch, strongly indicating Complete Construction was created as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically to deliver the Carmichael Village project.

Samson Hield, who serves as president of Complete Construction, was vice-president of Top Notch when the firm signed a separate public-private partnership (PPP) deal with the Bahamian government to build the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex, a project projected to cost Bahamian taxpayers more than $50m. The remaining Complete Construction directors — Marc Robinson, a financial consultant and treasurer; Alecia Bowe, an attorney and secretary; and Michael Cooper, an insurance executive and vice-president — all hold matching leadership positions at Top Notch, per that firm’s filings.

To date, no evidence has been presented to suggest any of Top Notch or Complete Construction’s current officers and directors have engaged in wrongdoing, nor are any linked to the drug trafficking charges pending against Gardiner. Still, the newly uncovered corporate ties are expected to fuel increased scrutiny of the multi-million dollar government construction contracts awarded to Top Notch and its affiliated entities, which now include both the Eight Mile Rock complex and Carmichael Village, a project that has already secured $20m in initial financing from Jamaican lenders.

Tribune Business has previously reported that Gardiner, who is currently in US custody after being charged with conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States, confirmed under oath in a February 2017 affidavit that he served as Top Notch’s president and director at that time, though he denied holding any direct or beneficial shares in the firm. Multiple anonymous sources have confirmed the Jonathan Eric Gardiner named in corporate filings is the same man now in US custody, with some going so far as to describe Top Notch as “his company.” The extent of Gardiner’s involvement with the firm after 2017 does not appear in public corporate records.

In a sworn affidavit supporting the US government’s case against Gardiner, DEA Special Agent Michael Coleman alleged that as recently as September 2024, Gardiner’s co-conspirators stated he “was currently building government buildings” and was “reportedly trying to keep his involvement below the radar of law enforcement.” Coleman added, “Based on my participation in this investigation, I understand that comment to be a reference to Gardiner’s company, which has bid on and secured Bahamian government-issued construction projects. Gardiner owns a business that Gardiner uses to, among other things, bid on Bahamian government-issued construction contracts and launder his narcotics trafficking proceeds.”

Gardiner’s 2017 sworn statement sought to distance him from ownership of Top Notch, asserting the firm is 100 percent owned by Paradise Productions Inc, an entity wholly controlled by Hield, who was previously identified by Tribune Business as the lead contractor for the Eight Mile Rock PPP deal.

Keith Bell, the current minister of housing and land reform, could not be reached for comment via phone, text, or email ahead of publication. However, Bell publicly confirmed Complete Construction as the Carmichael Village contractor in a November 8, 2025 interview with the Nassau Guardian. He outlined the project’s tripartite structure, saying: “There’s Approved Lenders. There’s Complete Construction. Complete Construction is the contractor for the subdivision…and then there is the Carmichael Development Board, which is responsible for overseeing and acting for and on behalf of the minister of housing and the Government.”

Rumors of Top Notch’s hidden involvement in Carmichael Village have circulated for months, but speculation grew dramatically following the May 12, 2024 election-day plane crash that left Gardiner in US federal custody on drug charges. The Opposition Free National Movement (FNM) has seized on the revelations, with party leader Michael Pintard demanding the government confirm whether any sitting Cabinet minister previously served as Top Notch’s president and director, replacing Gardiner in that role.

Tribune Business has viewed purported Top Notch corporate documents that name a sitting minister in that position for 2020, but the document’s authenticity could not be verified before press time, and legal counsel advised against publishing the name. Records indicate the minister was only briefly listed, and no longer appeared on Top Notch’s officer and director rolls in subsequent filings.

Pintard has also questioned how much of Carmichael Village’s multi-million dollar financing has flowed to Top Notch for construction work. He asserts that $40.2m has been invested in the project to date, including the $20m initial Jamaican financing and $20.2m in taxpayer funds deposited into Carmichael Village Project Development Company, the government-controlled SPV that oversees the housing development. The government disputes that figure, with Bell previously explaining the $20.2m transferred to the government SPV was intended to repay the original $20m loan, with nearly half of that sum ($10m) generated from home lot sales proceeds.

Still, Pintard pressed for transparency, telling Tribune Business: “The Government has multiple questions to answer in terms of how much of that $40.2m went to that individual and his company. The question is how much of that went to that individual or his company over the life of that project, and how far along and how much was expended on the project? What is the value of what is there in the ground that accrued under two ministers. They ought to answer how that money was disbursed. Was the individual in question, or Top Notch Builders or any subsidiary that they may have a beneficial interest in, or interest in any form, involved? They may try to hide behind the corporate veil.”

Pintard also referenced his 2024 House of Assembly comments during debate on the Anti-Gang Bill, where he called on all political parties to set a public example by declining to do business or award government contracts to alleged criminals and money launderers. “The Government continues to do business with people of interest to the police locally and internationally, as if those persons are legitimate business persons,” the FNM leader said. “They have done so in terms of multiple projects. They are helping to facilitate individuals who are believed to be engaged in nefarious issues that could bring reputational damage to the country.”

Companies Registry records show the government’s Carmichael Village Project Development Company SPV and Complete Construction Investment & Development Company were incorporated just five months apart, on March 18, 2022, and August 8, 2022, respectively, when Jobeth Coleby-Davis, not Bell, held the housing minister portfolio. Both entities were incorporated by Bowe Partners, the law firm where Alecia Bowe — a director of both Top Notch and Complete Construction — serves as managing partner. Complete Construction’s registered office is listed as Bowe Partners’ Caves Village location, while the government SPV’s registered address is on Don Mackay Boulevard in Abaco.

The initial subscribers for both entities are Adia Benita Roberts and Kenya Armbrister, both of whom list their address as Bowe Partners and are believed to be employees of the firm. It remains unclear why Bowe Partners was tapped to incorporate both the government’s SPV and the private contractor, a task that would typically fall to attorneys from the Attorney General’s Office. Bowe also drafted the government’s Eight Mile Rock PPP contract, rather than government legal counsel, and could not be reached for comment ahead of publication. Both of Bowe Partners’ listed phone numbers were either out of service or constantly busy, and Bowe did not respond to an email seeking comment on Top Notch and Complete Construction’s role in the project.

Tribune Business records show that in summer 2022, $20m in financing was secured from Jamaican investment firm Proven Wealth Ltd to develop the 365-lot Renaissance at Carmichael subdivision, with transactions arranged by Bahamas-based alternative lender Simplified Lending. That figure matches the $20m the government later transferred to its Carmichael Village SPV.

The financing deal was controversial from the start, with then-housing minister Coleby-Davis telling the House of Assembly just weeks after the deal was publicly hailed at a press conference attended by the Prime Minister that “there is no agreement with Simplified Lending and Proven Wealth Management” from the government’s perspective. At the time, Coleby-Davis stated in written parliamentary responses that the $20m in loan proceeds had not yet been received or disbursed, and the funds were earmarked to develop the 70-acre site, with 200 homes planned for the project’s first phase. The reliance on Jamaican private financing marks another shared detail between the Carmichael Village project and the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex.